Early response to infectious diseases is key to stamping out or controlling them. This means that a widespread population must be screened to identify the carriers and the associated diseases. Particularly in the rural third world nations with a poorly developed infrastructure, where there is little or no public health systems, it is necessary to respond to epidemics with rapid field testing and treatment. But many tests that can fulfill this need are expensive and require laboratories with complex equipments, ones that require power (electricity). In many rural areas, power is not available, and if it is, it is scarce. So it is desirable to use devices that do not use electricity in these circumstances.
Fortunately, there are inexpensive and rapid testing procedures for identifying diseases, namely, ones that involve co-agglutination reactions, which make them excellent candidates for population screening. To succeed with a co-agglutination testing, the sample must be mixed with reagent chemicals for periods up to 10 minutes. A conventional electrical rotating or mixing equipment, such as the ones described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,118,801 and 4,747,693, could do the job but for the power requirement. For example, a conventional orbiting commercially available rotator, such as a Fisher Clinical Rotator (Scientific Model 341), provides an orbiting motion driven by a timer-actuated electrical motor that can be used with a co-agglutination testing.
These conventional mixers are useless without power. Another drawback is that different countries use a different power system and a rotator made for one system may not be compatible with another system. It is particularly difficult to conduct a field testing when there is no electric power available. If it is necessary to collect samples and return to a test site having power, the screening will be unduly delayed, and people will go without treatment.
Thus, there is a need for a sample rotator that can be used universally under all circumstances, particularly for field uses, to benefit from readily available on site tests, such as co-agglutination tests.
The present invention fulfills this need.